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Friday, August 31, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Friday August 31, 2007 at 6:16am] 0 Trackbacks

Law and Order

I loved the old black and white Perry Mason series, which hasn't been on TV or Cable in years. But a pretty good substitute is "Law and Order" on NBC, with abundant reruns on TNT. I have the DVR set to record them, and I typically have 4-8 in the queue to watch, while I'm blogging or working on other stuff in my office.

Season 18 starts this January, with Jack McCoy moving up to be the District Attorney. Funny, I saw Arthur Branch (Fred Thompson) tell McCoy (Sam Waterston) he was a great attorney but was too idealist to make D.A.

My favorite cast was from 1996-1998, with Briscoe (the late Jerry Orbach), Curtis (Benjamin Bratt), Ross (Carey Lowell), and Schiff (Steven Hill). A very close second is Briscoe, Green (Jesse L. Martin), and Carmichael (Angie Harmon) in 1999. Really, they're all pretty good.

Unlike Perry Mason's foe Hamilton Burger, the prosecutors win most of the time, but not always. The writing is terrific, too, even if it does lean a little left of center.

But O Perry, where art thou?

Thursday, August 30, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Thursday August 30, 2007 at 9:03pm] 0 Trackbacks

AAA is A-OK on T-Paw

Maybe I'm just not smart enough to leave comments on WordPress sites like Residual Forces, home of Triple-A. It took me fifteen minutes and five tries just to get logged on again, and after three "WTF?" aborts, I decided I just better post over here. What I wanted to say was:

Is AAA hyperbolic or T-Paw hyper-frustrating? I vote the latter.

On paper, Governor Pawlenty should be a Republican superstar. He's young, handsome, intelligent, and good on camera. Plus, whether lucky or good, he wins elections. And yet he seems to make one unforced error after another.

Be sure to read the comments of my betters who apparently have mastered WordPress. A couple claim our Governor knows what he's doing this time regarding the ever more likely Special Session, a rope-a-dope to get the DFL to again overplay their hand.

But with what, 13 fatalities, this is not the time nor issue to play politics. And, it's fraught with danger for the GOP and the rest of the 57% who want no part of a new Tragedy Tax. Look at the scenarios:

No pre-session deal is struck, making Pawlenty look like he was never serious about calling a Special Session after all.
A deal is struck and the DFL keeps their word, meaning taxes go up needlessly, with his blessing.
A deal is struck and the DFL doesn't keep their word. Entirely a predictable outcome, Pawlenty and the GOP look like a fool.

No matter what, the DFL will claim success and/or cry foul and the usual suspects in the local media will see it their way.

Just lead, Governor. You have the power. The money is there. Yes, work with the Legislative leaders, accept some guidance, grant some favors, but lead.

[Speed Gibson, Thursday August 30, 2007 at 7:01am] 0 Trackbacks

Something's Brewing

Something called "True North" is being promoted on a number of Web sites. I'm on the outside with the rest of you, wondering what it might be. "Absolute Conservative" it says, mimicking a well known Vodka.

Is it for real? And truly significant? And will our maverick Governor spoil the day by calling a dreaded and totally unnecessary Special Session?

I remember other mysterious campaigns, like "VIP" in the movie "Lover Come Back" with Doris Day and Rock Hudson.

There was KSTP-TV's first response to Channel 4's "The Scene Tonight" that gave us decades of happy talk news. "TNT" was coming we were told. "It's dyanmite!" (Yes, they really said that.) Poor John McDougall, an old school newsman and a really decent guy I might add, tried his best to do it the new way while pretending he wasn't on one of the silliest news sets ever seen. It bombed, you might say.

Then there was the "1-2-3" promotion, billboards everywhere sporting only the name, which turned out to be Lotus 1-2-3. Actually, this was a good product for its day, quickly becoming the industry standard spreadsheet for years. But just as they took it away from VisiCalc, Bill Gates late overtook 1-2-3.

It would appear to be something like Townhall.com or Real Clear Politics, perhaps the next incarnation of the Northern Alliance. Well, whatever "True North" is, we haven't long to wait.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Wednesday August 29, 2007 at 11:33pm] 0 Trackbacks

Jason Lewis on EIB

I'm slowly catching up on my podcasts, heard Rush Limbaugh announce (8/23) that our own Jason Lewis will be behind the "Golden EIB Microphone" Thursday (8/30) and Friday (8/31) this week.

Monday, August 27, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Monday August 27, 2007 at 7:30am] 0 Trackbacks

Al, um, Franken

I did a year with Toastmasters, doing my ten speeches, earning my Competent Toastmaster pin. A key component of evaluating speeches is actually counting all of the ums, ers, and ahs.

So, I appointed myself the "ah counter" watching U.S. Senate DFL hopeful Al Franken on Almanac this week. I counted 51, not to mention any number of broken sentences. His competitors Ciresi and Cohen were near flawless, but to be fair, they're seasoned attorneys.

Franken isn't exactly light on his feet intellectually, which probably explains why he gets abusive when losing an argument. He can write well, he can deliver written material well, but several times on this appearance, Franken was clearly unable to think and/or present his thoughts coherently under fire.

This in fact was how his radio program generally operated. He would begin the hour obviously reading something he or the staff wrote, and it sounded very professional. But once done, and once taking even the friendliest of callers, the stammering and wandering began to fill the rest of the hour.

That's not to say Mr. Franken won't be the nominee. I think he won the "debate" tonight, and I think he'll be the DFL standard bearer. But he's going to have to get a lot better before taking on a verbal master like Senator Norm Coleman to have any chance of winning.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Sunday August 26, 2007 at 11:56pm] 0 Trackbacks

Man of the People

This is my third post on this week's Almanac couch of the DFL U.S. Senate hopefuls, which I found quite interesting.

Candidate Mike Ciresi spent considerable time trying to paint himself as a public figure fighting the good DFL fights for decades. The truth is, he was largely unknown before the infamous tobacco lawsuit and settlement. Anyway, here is this man of the people speaking directly on the issue of so-called gay marriage:

Host Eric Escola: Sentence or two, yes or no would be great. [Are] you for legalizing gay marriage?

Candidate Mike Ciresi: I'm in favor of no discrimination in this country whatsover. I am not in favor of imposing requirements on religious denominations.

Escola: Are you for legalizing gay marriage?

Ciresi No, what I've said is that I'm for no discrimination whatsoever, but that in terms of marriage, I'm not in favor of imposing that on religious denominations.

Host Cathy Wurzer: I'm a little confused, though.

Candidate Mike Ciresi: What I said is, in terms of civil unions, I am in favor of that. I do not favor any form of discrimination. We have fought against this. Our law firm has taken on many of these issues on a pro bono basis. But I am not in favor of imposing on religious denominations the fact that they have to marry gay people. I just don't this that's right.

This is an edited transcript, mostly to exclude other candidates responses in the interim.

This was a well-rehearsed lawyerly answer so murky that both Eric and Cathy had to ask again, only to get the same answer. I'm not sure I understand what he said exactly, but it looks to me like he could have simply said "I believe that civil unions is the best answer."

I noticed on the earlier topic of alleged predatory lending, he again used legal jargon needlessly. It's apparently his native tongue, not exactly what you'd expect from this self-described man of the people.

[Speed Gibson, Sunday August 26, 2007 at 10:58pm] 0 Trackbacks

The Girl in the Freudian Slip

Early on in the Almanac DFL "debate" amongst the 2008 U.S. Senate contenders:

Host Cathy Wurzer: So you would go for raising the gas tax?

Candidate Jim Cohen: I think it makes sense to do that now in order to able to save later.

Wurzer: Excellent.

Obviously the host appreciated that Cohen's response was unequivocal, not the position taken. Yes, that must be it, for PBS et al of course isn't biased.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Saturday August 25, 2007 at 9:31pm] 0 Trackbacks

August Blues

I think August is my least favorite month. As a young lad, there was all kinds of stuff to do in June and July. But come August, the beaches closed and the summer Park and Recreation programs ended. My mother started dragging me off to buy school clothes, where appearance trumps comfort. I did like buying school supplies and looked forward to the start of school if nothing else to break the boredom and often, the heat.

As an employee, it's tougher to get stuff done around Labor Day as everyone tries to leverage that one day. Those that are in find too many contacts and resources unavailable to get much done. Business just doesn't get back to work full speed until the second Monday of September.

Even current events seems to go dark, mostly notably locally with the start of the Minnesota State Fair. Once upon a time I really enjoyed watching and listening to "live at the fair" coverage, but now everybody does essentially the same act. Brian "St. Paul" Ward is a rare exception.

Nationally, most of the talk show hosts take time off, too. If you're in the substitute host business, August is your big opportunity other than perhaps the Christmas / New Years holidays.

No hurry, I'm just whining, but bring on September.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Wednesday August 22, 2007 at 2:58pm] 0 Trackbacks

Not so fast

As is entirely appropriate given what's happened, the future of Carol Molnau as Minnesota's Commissioner of Transportation has been called into question. The DFL almost certainly will remove her (IMO) if a Special Session called, but this is only due to a defect in the Minnesota Constitution that puts no time limit on Senate confirmations.

Carol Molnau is our elected Lieutenant Governor and appointed Commissioner of Transportation. She's a politician, not an engineer, which has prompted some commentary. I say, Commissioners should generally be politicians, Deputy Commissioners the engineer, doctor, accountant, etc as required.

That's the main reason I reluctantly wrote that Health Commissioner Diane Mandernach should be replaced, when she made a professional judgement call, apparently correct for the profession, but politically naive and embarrassing.

This is especially important these days given how ruthless the DFL has become, the party that sacked perhaps the most able but again impolitic Commissioner of Education in Minnesota history. Commissioner Yecke never saw it coming.

To find a Commissioner who is politically adept, good on camera, and a competent, proven professional just isn't possible or practical in most cases. We need two people, and it should be allowed that the Deputy is paid considerably more than the Commissioner or even the Governor.

This doesn't excuse Carol Molnau from scrutiny. If she is the number cruncher some allege, that may be troubling in that she isn't focused enough on the politics, her first responsibility. It is Governor Pawlenty's job to decide is Carol should stay on or move on as head of MnDot.

UPDATE: I see that Health Commissioner Diane Mandernach has stepped down, apparently at the Governor's request.

[Speed Gibson, Wednesday August 22, 2007 at 11:30am] 0 Trackbacks

Almanac Couch Box Score



                 This week                 To Date
Pundit           Runs Hits Errs     Weeks Runs Hits Errs



Phil Krinke         4    6    0        1     4    6    0
Fritz Knack         1    4    0        2     3    7    0
David Strom                            1     2    3    0
Dan Dorman                             1     1    4    0
Ember R.-J.                            1     0    2    1
Sarah Janacek                          1     0    1    1
Jane Ranum          0    1    3        1     0    1    3
Wes Skoglund        0    1    4        1     0    1    4
Mary Jo McGuire                        1     0    0    2
Taryl Clark                            1     0    0    3
Wy Spano                               1     0    0    7

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Tuesday August 21, 2007 at 9:02pm] 0 Trackbacks

Wrong Target

The Fraters found this Minneapolis Star Tribue gem of an Op-Ed penned by State Rep. Ryan Winkler.

[T]he Legislature should appoint a special counsel for its joint committee to investigate the bridge collapse. The mission of the joint committees is to seek the truth and to establish who had any responsibility for the collapse, regardless of political party, branch of government or limits of liability insurance. To deliver on this mission, the joint committee will need a special counsel to perform the investigation in a way that only a prosecutor knows how to do, and the committee must stand ready with the Legislature's subpoena power to back up that investigation.

This is a truly awful idea, and clearly written by an attorney, almost certainly DFL. I didn't cheat - I just now Googled it - and right on both counts. It's worse than that even. He's from Golden Valley, sister city of Pyongyang as I think one of the Fraters once observed. But on with the fisk.

First, if I ever find myself needing an investigator, I'm going to hire a detective, not an attorney. Why settle for half a loaf at twice the price?

Second, the best people to assess what happened are already working on it. We don't need no stinking Legislators or Special Counsels. They may in fact have the opposite effect, casting a pall of fear over what should be a technical board of inquiry. Let the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) folks do their job. What a lawyer thinks happened is incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial.

Third, who said anyone is to blame? The NTSB may simply find it was a perfect storm of small factors, each innocuous by themselves, but together added unidirectionally toward disaster. The same was true of the Titanic, where even a pair of binoculars in the crow's nest might have spotted the iceberg in time.

Keep the Legislature out of this whole project for as long as possible. If the Governor can find either the courage or political horse sense to avoid calling a Special Session, the engineers will be in charge until at least March.

If Rep. Winkler wants to investigate something, how about Light Rail, Ethanol, or Education Minnesota?

[Speed Gibson, Tuesday August 21, 2007 at 8:16am] 0 Trackbacks

At Issue Box Score

Ember actually had a good week.



                 This week                 To Date
Pundit           Runs Hits Errs     Weeks Runs Hits Errs

David Strom         3    4    0         2    4    6    0
Dave Thompson                           2    1    4    0
Ember R.-J.         1    3    0         2    1    5    2
Blois Olson                             1    0    2    0

Monday, August 20, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Monday August 20, 2007 at 11:07pm] 0 Trackbacks

Listening to Engineers

There's nothing profound in this post. What has happened after the collapse of the St. Anthony bridge was entirely predictable, but it bears repeating.

Just after came calls that we weren't listening to the engineers. We weren't reading their inspection reports. Why, this bridge was structurally deficient, and had been for some time. We need people who really know what they're doing running MnDot, not a part time elected official.

Now, of course, the new bridge is ground zero for politicians trying to add on unnecessary, unwise, and even unrelated items to the cost of reconstruction. It's almost amusing to see the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, the Metropolitan Council, and the State Legislature elbowing each other for control of at least of portion of the project. Personally, I hope the bickering continues, to show our weak Governor that no good can possibly come from a Special Session. They'll be back in session soon enough.

So who's listening to the engineers now? Nobody. As U.S. Senator Joe Biden might say, these decisions are way above their pay grade.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Saturday August 18, 2007 at 5:44pm] 0 Trackbacks

Almanac Box Scores

The most recent storm's power outage meant I had no power to record "At Issue" last week. I have submitted my plea to KSTP to put it up on their web site, but for now, I think I'll split the box scores, starting with last week's Almanac.



ALMANAC POLITICAL PANEL

                 This week                 To Date
Pundit           Runs Hits Errs     Weeks Runs Hits Errs

Fritz Knack         2    3    0        1     2    3    0
David Strom         2    3    0        1     2    3    0
Dan Dorman                             1     1    4    0
Ember R.-J.         0    2    1        1     0    2    1
Sarah Janacek                          1     0    1    1
Mary Jo McGuire                        1     0    0    2
Taryl Clark                            1     0    0    3
Wy Spano            0    0    7        1     0    0    7

[Speed Gibson, Saturday August 18, 2007 at 5:26pm] 0 Trackbacks

Transition

Our son went off to college today. The house is empty already. My wife knew this would be hard for her, as his older sister was a commuter student and has never been more than 20 minutes away by car. The boy is now at the University of Minnesota Morris, a little early to start football practice.

My wife sees the house as half empty, me half full, proud of him, happy for him, even a little envious of him. But then I think of doing 15-18 credit hours at my age, no, been there, done that. I'll just study hard at SCSU Scholars.

What will no doubt help is seeing him next weekend when we bring the rest of his stuff to his permanent dorm room, then the weekly football games. We don't expect him to start of course, but we're both eager to become avid Cougar fans until he does.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Wednesday August 15, 2007 at 10:41am] 0 Trackbacks

The Daily KOS at the Movies

We got a free rental of "Man of the Year" starring Robin Williams. It's a movie only the Daily KOS fanatics could love, pure moonbat fantasy, start to finish, with a dose of "Capricorn One" and an evil corporation to hate. We all know that Delacroy is really Halliburton, of course.

Robin Williams is surprisingly restrained, turning in the only decent acting performance. Laura Linney was awful. The plot was awful. The production design was double awful, the music entirely forgettable. And, it was much too long.

At first I thought it might be Hollywood's attempt to get us to take Al Franken seriously. But even Al can't use this kind of help.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Tuesday August 14, 2007 at 8:20am] 0 Trackbacks

More on 5 pm football at Park Center High School

As I posted in June, Park Center High had moved up its home football games to 5 pm Fridays, not 7 pm.

Our local cable news on Channel 12 did a follow up story yesterday. It would appear now that "safety and security" may not have been the real reason behind this. The school administration won't elaborate.

Charlie and Patti, parents of a team co-captain and co-presidents of the Athletic Boosters were interviewed. Charlie is a Brooklyn Park police officer, who said he often wears his uniform when attending, letting the officers on duty know in case they need a hand. But he and another parent can't recall any incidents, nor did Charlie get a call for assistance.

Patti said the Boosters, who raise significant money for this and other programs including coaches' salaries were never consulted. Concessions are a big part of their fund raising and she predicted lost sales as a result.

The new coach, Rufus Bess, came from Minneapolis North, which gave up night games some time ago. Curiously, he is under orders not to discuss the change here.

There's been some blowback, and the Osseo School District (279) has partially backed down. The October games, homecoming and the last game, will now be at 7 pm. The two games in September will be 5 pm, and one of those would have been 5 pm anyway in observance of Yom Kippur, the annual Jewish Day of Atonement.

Now folks, I grew up in St. Louis Park and I never heard of such a thing. Besides, I thought the public schools were not to even acknowledge religious beliefs. (Christmas is a Federal holiday, nothing they can do.)

I think I may have to attend those rough and tumble 7 pm Pirate home games in October, see what's going on.

Monday, August 13, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Monday August 13, 2007 at 9:45pm] 0 Trackbacks

When Did This Change?

"Nobody tells me anything," goes the old refrain.

I'm watching the finale of Hell's Kitchen, and apparently the crawl wasn't enough, probably because the other channels had gone into full overdrive on what appears to be a severe thunderstorm. So all we saw was a blip of the winner walking through the door. But it was a tornado warning, so fine, that's more important.

A tornado watch is (used to be?) conditions likely to spawn tornadoes. A tornado warning is (was?) an actual sighting. This is per the National Weather Service it appears, not the weather weenies.

But Julie Nelson on Kare 11 clarified that all we had was a radar indication this time. When did this change?

It sounds like there's significant property damage in Anoka county, from winds and hail. And I know that these storms can get nasty very quickly. But this still counts as crying wolf in my book.

Seriously, what's the difference between a watch and warning now? Nothing you can act on. You can count on many more storms that would have been watches promoted to warning status.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. As it's always been, you're ultimately on your own.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Sunday August 12, 2007 at 5:48pm] 0 Trackbacks

Whine Like a Liberal

I am blogging from an undisclosed location, my home being without power for 1.5 (revised) days when we returned from Iowa this afternoon. I walked the neighborhood, found it was just like 2005 when we lost power for 4.0 days - same set of houses. That repair took maybe two hours, once they showed up, which wasn't until day 4. Meanwhile, Qwest and Comcast trucks were everywhere from the start. I was an angry blogger at the time, given what I still think was prima facia evidence of red-lining first ring suburbs like mine.

What's different this time (fortunately) is that there was no other visible damage to the neighborhood, not even excess downed twigs. Also different is that while they were willing to provide estimated times for resumption of service, all I got this time when I phoned in was "almost certainly by Wednesday."

But I just now got a call from home that the power is back on, about 1 hour after I called in. There are several possibilities:

The Xcel crews knew what to do when, even if the people on the phones didn't and were instructed to give lawyerly responses.
Xcel didn't know about the outage because I was the first customer to alert them.
Xcel remembers me from last time, and doesn't want any media, city, or regulatory inquiries.

I vote for #3.

To recast the old "Our House" moniker, I whined like a liberal while seeking accountability like a conservative.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Saturday August 11, 2007 at 9:02pm] 0 Trackbacks

Hot time in Sioux City

I'm on the road, in Sioux City, Iowa for a wedding. And it's hot, temperature and humidity. The hotel's air conditioning for the common areas like the lounge and reception ballroom is hopelessly overmatched. Outside, a mighty Trane unit rumbles steadily but it's mostly CFM's, not BTU's. Fortunately, our rooms have sturdy Amana units that will deliver 65 degrees if we want it. And we do!

I hear we had quite the storm, and that power last I heard was out at our house. Last time, we were red-lined by Excel, meaning we were out 4 days and didn't see a single truck until day 4. We'll see what happens(ed?) this time when we get back tomorrow.

Friday, August 10, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Friday August 10, 2007 at 2:50pm] 0 Trackbacks

That Which is Rewarded gets Done

In an era of paying young school children to do what they should do anyway, maybe we don't have the right incentive packages for droll tasks like road repair. Several have noted that politicians are geared toward announcing grants and cutting ribbons for new stuff, not refurbishing old stuff.

Maybe we need more ceremonies for maintenance, which dovetails with another theory of mine.

Too often it seems to me, we try to do maintenance on open roads roads and bridges. That is, we close or reroute a lane or two, but otherwise keep them partially open. Maybe we should just close them outright, get it done all at once and quickly, then reopen - with a ribbon cutting ceremony so the politicians can take some credit.

I'm talking about the big projects, like resurfacing, not restriping. This would be safer for the workers, too.

The I-35W bridge is gone, yet traffic isn't paralyzed as a few expected. A number of simple changes and some common sense by drivers is doing a decent job so far. Why wouldn't this apply to some other large projects? Just let people know in advance, close it, fix it, and yes, celebrate a little. I think this beats crawling through such a zone on the one lane remaining open.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Thursday August 9, 2007 at 10:14pm] 0 Trackbacks

Walking update

I recently completed walking all of New Brighton, and have started doing Mounds View, city number 18. To date, since February 2002, that's 3,220 miles.

I'm also opening up a second front: Minneapolis, 19 miles to date. I'm not sure how daring I will be. But today I took buses through both North Minneapolis AND Loring Park and lived to blog about it.

As I've posted before, I think the City of Minneapolis is absolutely beautiful. It has grit, culture, history, even trees, all so lacking in outer ring suburbs. It's such a shame that its citizens expect so little and tolerate so much from its government.

[Speed Gibson, Thursday August 9, 2007 at 9:58pm] 0 Trackbacks

Best Bridge Coverage

For what it's worth, and it's only my opinion, Channel 5 did the best job of covering the I-35W bridge disaster. They also happen to be my TV news of choice. They have distinguished themselves before, most recently covering the Rogers tornado.

Actually, the other channels did a good job, too, but noticeably constrained by their past behavior: KARE's pithiness, WCCO's arrogance. Channel 9 would in fact be my second choice.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Wednesday August 8, 2007 at 11:07pm] 0 Trackbacks

Who will save him this time?

Testimonials to Pawlenty's handling of the I-35W are predictably appearing on the new Party of Pawlenty web site. Actually, he is doing well, as the polls confirm. But he also seems poised to make a potentially career-ending mistake: calling a Special Session.

A couple of the usual suspects are of course pointing to his vetoes as at least shortchanging our safety and infrastructure. To give this any credence by talking of raising the gas tax after all seems a puzzling position and/or strategy.

The reason Pawlenty finds himself adjusting his collar is that he governs by perception, not principle. He campaigned against light rail, remember? Now he's all for it, even recently moving up the schedule even though the federal money isn't approved yet. Where is this in the "conservative agenda" that Pawlenty is supposedly moving forward?

A conservative lets the numbers speak for themselves. Light rail is a bust, everywhere in the country. It solves nothing as it consumes billions in construction costs and further millions in operating losses. A conservative Governor would have been actively explaining why the MVET Amendment was a bad idea. He would have vetoed the transportation bill saying that Light Rail is 0 for 1, and won't be expanded, "not on my watch."

But now that he's flip-flopped, he's caught. He can't decry the money going to Light Rail and public transit in general. A conservative Governor puts a moratorium on light rail et al, at least long enough to get to the regular session in 2008. Instead, Pawlenty has the opposite problem, facing pressure to raise taxes to cover that excessive public transit and disproportionate rural highway spending.

I'm sure he'll at least have the good sense not to call a Special Session until after the State Fair. But if he does, he won't be re-elected in 2010, especially if the Democrats run a moderate candidate like Peter Hutchinson.

Judi Dutcher saved him in 2006. Larry Pogemiller saved him in 2007. If he indeed calls a Special Session and raises taxes, losing another big slice of the conservative base, who will save him this time?

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Tuesday August 7, 2007 at 10:53pm] 0 Trackbacks

Size Matters

Flash at Centrisity ponders what the next I-35W bridge might look like, complete with pictures of a comparable structure near Boston. The "Planning Class" is already twittering about bike paths, local art, even light rail tracks. Engineers both real and imagined speak of redundancy and maintainability. Nick Coleman will want a digital readout showing today's odds making it to the other side, flashing red when the temperature reaches 90 degrees.

We should indeed take the time to do this right, if for no other reason than it is our state's busiest bridge. The old one was eight lanes I believe, and that probably wasn't enough. I wonder if two spans aren't required, one each way, with abundant shoulders either side. That would allow maintenance and inspections to be less disruptive.

One span could also provide the walking / biking path, which seems like a reasonably cheap add on. The other, yes, could carry train traffic, be it Northstar and/or Central Corridor. (Sorry, I'm suffering from inevitability this week.)

The only other detail is where to put the Sayles-Belton Memorial Art Supply store.

Monday, August 6, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Monday August 6, 2007 at 10:09pm] 0 Trackbacks

This can wait

There are troubling signs of political over-reaction to the I-35W bridge failure, perhaps leading to a Special Session that will go far beyond this event's needs. Some officials and pundits have angered me, and a few others have disappointed me. But it's too soon to comment further.

There are families waiting along the shore, waiting and wondering if their missing loved ones are underneath the rubble as seems so likely. They deserve an effort that's full ahead on recovery and cleanup by all concerned.

Again, let's take comfort in how low the casualties are turning out to be. Let's praise those who did all those drills and were thus able to execute so well when the bridge fell. As I heard one voice on the radio put it, "FEMA? Yeah, FEMA! Where the hell is FEMA?"

[Speed Gibson, Monday August 6, 2007 at 9:48pm] 0 Trackbacks

Fifteen Minutes of Shame

As you may know, my blog is Nick Coleman free, dating back to January of 2005. It was fun to fisk his work when I first started blogging, but it was a crowded field, more recognition that he deserves.

Those who like his pedantic style laced with barbs to conceal his lack of facts and reason didn't have to wait long for Coleman to take personal advantage of the I-35W tragedy. In fact, his Friday column, ably fisked by Mitch at Shot in the Dark, got national attention from Rush Limbaugh in his first Friday hour. It was that bad.

This will be my rebuttal the next time the Minneapolis Star Tribune calls me about resuming my subscription.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Saturday August 4, 2007 at 8:57pm] 0 Trackbacks

Different Approaches

As too often happens in such events, there are two different approaches to assessing what happened to the I-35W bridge and what to do next. Generally, but with significant exceptions, these fall along political party lines.

One side seeks facts, the other seeks blame. One side asks "what?" and the other asks "who?" One side seeks to learn from the experience, the other to profit from it. One side seeks new ideas for the future, the other just more from the past, even those known not to work.

Like other such events, this collapse, too, humbles the human race. We are not yet the masters of our fate. Nothing we do is perfect. Nothing we build will last indefinitely, maintained or not. And unanticipated catastrophes will continue to happen, for reasons known and unknown. "A bridge in America just shouldn't fall down," said our new U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar. True enough, they shouldn't, but from time to time, one of them does.

There is no certainty. Every bridge in America has some probability of failure, very small, but never zero. Design, geography, climate, age, maintenance, contractors, building codes, materials, engineers, inspectors, and yes, even politicians are only some of the factors.

The investigations are on. One group seeks facts, perhaps the most important being what the many inspections failed to detect. The other group seeks scalps, to promote and/or protect themselves before the electorate by tearing down others, even the innocent.

We don't know what happened, what could have been done, or what should have been done. It will be months before we do, if ever. One thing we do know today is that the blame game won't build a better bridge next time.

Friday, August 3, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Friday August 3, 2007 at 10:30pm] 0 Trackbacks

Total Recall

I have a litmus test for any Legislator hoping to parlay the I-35W bridge disaster into a tax increase. First, though, read Captain Ed's posts on how the money truly flows in such matters, here and here.

If more money for infrastructure is non-negotiable, first draw up another Constitutional Amendment to put before the voters. Upon passage, the previously passed Transportation Amendment's 40 percent slush fund for public transit is repealed, so that all of the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET) can go entirely to roads and bridges.

If our bridges need more inspections, repairs, and replacement, fine, let's get it done. But passing a tax increase to pay for it while Light Rail is still alive is absurd. In effect, the tax increase will be to pay for Light Rail, not bridge maintenance.

[Speed Gibson, Friday August 3, 2007 at 7:30am] 0 Trackbacks

Happy Anniversary Maha Rushie

It's that time of year, when I happily renew my Rush 24/7 subscription and El Rushbo starts another year of Excellence in Broadcasting.

Nineteen years are in the bank, and I was there from the start, though KSTP only picked up 2 hours initially, and I can't say whether they were one of his initial group of 50 or so stations.

Rush Limbaugh remains the biggest and the best in talk radio. It's what he's wanted to do all his life, and nobody to this day works harder at it. He has done some TV, written a couple of books, and edits a small monthly magazine even now, but none of these are at the same level of his radio program.

His website is top flight, however, again, the best in radio, reportedly with at least couple hundred thousand of subscribers like me.

Happy Anniversary O Great One!

Thursday, August 2, 2007

[Speed Gibson, Thursday August 2, 2007 at 9:24pm] 0 Trackbacks

Good Job by All

Too often it takes a tragedy like the collapse of a bridge and the attendant human strife to illustrate just how good we truly have it here, in America, in Minnesota, here in the Twin Cities.

As I watched the coverage, switching channels frequently, I was really impressed how well organized the response was by our police officers, fire fighters, medical teams, the Red Cross, and other emergency agencies. Many citizens either on the bridge or nearby pitched in until the "first responders" could arrive. Surrounding communities filled in while Minneapolis's crews dealt with what I hope remains the biggest such local disaster I can remember. The Twin Cities handled this wholly unanticipated disaster better than did New Orleans with advance notice and known issues.

Our public officials appeared at the right times and said the right things, even those we otherwise mistrust. They made it clear that whatever is necessary now for rescue and recovery, and later for review and rebuilding, will be forthcoming. But otherwise, they stayed out of the way and largely off camera.

Our media gets top marks from me as well this first day. All four local channels did a great job. Sure, they repeated showed the same footage and they repeated themselves many times trying to fill the time while producers scrambled to line up more material. But this is exactly what we needed, so people as they came home or otherwise tuned in got up to speed quickly. Both newspapers this morning did equally well. The national media largely drew from our local coverage, showing America how we do things here in flyover country.

Sure, a couple of individuals could be accused of grandstanding or making unwarranted political observations. In the heat of the moment, we can all say something inappropriate. What counted yesterday and today, was what everyone did, not mere talk.

We grieve for those caught literally in the middle, of course, and I'm sure what needs to get done for them will continue to get done. But it's also appropriate and deserved to add: well done by all.